• Standard practice
    • Disposable gloves are used for all procedures, and are changed multiple times throughout each procedure to avoid contamination of the client and surfaces in the work area.
    • All other products used in the procedure; ie. gauze, ointments, ink caps, or razors are single use disposable.
    • All needles are single use disposable. They are pre-sterilized off site by the manufacturer before use and in front of the client, disposed of in a appropriate sharps container after the procedure.
    • Any instruments that are not single use disposable (ie. forceps or receiving tubes), are soaked with a hard surface disinfectant, moved to an ultra sonic to remove any debris and then sterilized in a properly tested autoclave before reuse.
    • All jewelry used in new piercings is first cleaned in the ultrasonic to remove any polishing compounds, packaged with a heat sealer, and then sterilized in a properly tested autoclave.
  • Autoclave explained
    • Autoclaves achieve sterilization through the use of intense steam-heat and pressure over an extended period of time.
    • Any autoclave being used for sterilizing equipment should be tested (called a spore test) by an independent lab at least once a month.
    • At HBA we test our autoclave weekly.
    • In addition we use a combination of package indicators which react to heat exposure and integrators which react to time, temperature, and pressure to monitor every autoclave load.